Hero la Hero
by NinjaGogeta
Summary: Ryūko just wanted to live her life in peace. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when you're a super-powered badass in a world where monster attacks are all-but commonplace. Not to mention that the threat warned about by a defeated megalomaniac might finally be approaching. She just hopes she doesn't get a stupid nickname from the Association. (Spoilers, she does.)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One- The Woman with the Scarlet Bang

* * *

It was a nice day in H-City. It was always a nice day in H-City. The citizens lived rather stress-free lives under the protection of the heroes Mushroom and Horse-Bone. For some reason, H-City had never been threatened by any particularly strong Mysterious Beings. There was once a Tiger level threat, but fortunately the A-class Hero, Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask, had been around for a photo-shoot at the time and handily dealt with it before it could cause too much damage.

Unfortunately for the citizens in H-City, there was no A-class heroes in sight when Mummy Scarf attacked.

"Oh ho ho ho!" Mummy Scarf laughed as her scarves grabbed anything in sight and flung them at the buildings around her. She had the appearance of a well-endowed woman wrapped up in an uncountable number of scarves. All that was visible off her was her bright red eyes, peaking out under the scarves on her face. Some of the scarves were moving around while extended from her body. "Witness the undeniable might of scarves! Oh ho ho ho!"

Where were Mushroom and Horse-Bone, you ask? The answer is that they had been instantly on the scene to combat the threat in their city. However, with a single swipe from her scarves, the B and C-class Heroes were flung into nearby skyscrapers, which they hung from in a state of unconsciousness. Seeing this, civilians ran in the dozens, desperate to get away from the monster. Despite their best efforts, some citizens were crushed by debris that Mummy Scarf threw. Those not in the immediate area started to panic once the evacuation notice came through the loud speakers.

" **This is an emergency evacuation warning. A Mysterious Being has appeared in City-H and incapacitated Mushroom and Horse-Bone. All residents of the area, please evacuate immediately**."

"It's no use!" Scarf Mummy declared, preparing her scarves to attack. "There's no escaping the wonderful, encasing warmth of scarves!" As soon as she finished speaking, seven scarves flew out from her body, easily piercing through several buildings each. "Oh ho ho!" She then spun, instantly cutting several dozen buildings in half.

Hundreds of civilians cried out in fear as they were either cut down by the scarves or crushed by the falling buildings. Mummy Scarf laughed, enjoying the schadenfreude her actions arose. "Now I can show the world just how amazing scarves truly are!" She recalled the scarves to her body. "Now, to move on to- huh?!" She paused when she realised that one of her scarves were still extended. "What's this? Could one of my beautiful scarves be stuck? Impossible!"

She tried once more to recall it, but whatever had its hold on the scarf refused to be budged. Gritting her teeth in rage, Mummy Scarf grabbed onto the scarf and pulled as hard as she could. "Get over here!" Soon enough, what was holding the other end of the scarf came into view. "I've got you!" She sent her other scarves flying towards the figure in the air, instantly skewering them in several places. "Hah!" She then slammed the person down, creating a large crack in the ground. She repeated this several times, causing the crack to grow larger and larger. After the ninth strike, she stopped.

"Let that be a lesson to you, worm! Never touch one of my precious scarves! Listen up! I was once a human who loved scarves so much that I became a beautiful scarf monster! So, to have a filthy plebeian like you touching my scarves," she flung the figure into the air once more, before slamming them back down harder than the other nine times combined "IS UNNNACEPTABLE!" The crack extended, causing an untouched building to collapse alongside the rest. Mummy Scarf, satisfied with the beat down, removed the scarves from the figure and recalled them.

But once again, the scarf held in the figure's hand did not return.

"Impossible! You should have been slaughtered by my fantastical scarves!"

"Do you ever shut up?"

"What?!"

The bloodied and beaten figure let out a dark chuckle as it pushed itself to its feet. Only then, standing in the sunlight, was their appearance visible to Mummy Scarf. A young woman, with black hair with a single red streak in her left-side bangs. Her clothing was bloody and covered in holes, but the grip on the scarf was as tight as ever. "You've got some nerve, you damn monster. Going on a freaking slaughter spree like this." The young woman gave the monster an enraged glare, blue eyes aflame. "You're asking for the ass-kicking of a life time!"

Mummy Scarf stared. Then laughed. "Oh ho ho! Are you one of those Hero Association goons? It would explain your endurance as well as the crap you're spewing right now." She raised her scarves behind her, like a gang of snakes ready to strike. "Are you going to rant about justice to this evil monster? Because the only justice I care about," the scarves flew forward, intent on piercing the woman once more, "IS THE JUSTICE THAT IS SCARVES!"

"SHUT UP ABOUT SCARVES ALREADY!" The woman roared, yanking on the scarf in her grip as hard as possible. The sudden force ripped Mummy Scarf off her feet, cancelling her attack mid-execution. "SO YOU BECAME SCARVES HUH? YOU THINK YOU'RE CLOTHING NOW, OR SOMETHING? THINK YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU LIKE TO HUMANS BECAUSE YOU AREN'T ONE?!" The woman smashed Mummy Scarf into a ruined building. "WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING! HUMANS ARE HUMANS!" She then slammed Mummy Scarf into another building. "CLOTHING IS CLOTHING!"

Pulling hard once more, she began spinning the screaming Mummy Scarf in circles in the air. "SCARVES ARE SCARVES! MONSTERS ARE MONSTERS AND ASSHOLES ARE ASSHOLES! AND RIGHT NOW, YOU'RE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE MONSTER OF ALL! AND YOU KNOW WHAT I DO TO ASSHOLES?" With a fierce cry, she yanked down on the scarf and brought Mummy Scarf flying down back to earth.

"I PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE!" And as Mummy Scarf approached her, the young-looking woman with the scarlet highlight in her bang, decked the monster right in the middle of its face. "GO FUCK YOURSELF!" Mummy Scarf's head exploded, coating the woman and the surrounding debris in blood and brain matter. Ryūko Matoi spat out a mouthful of blood as Mummy Scarf's corpse fell at her feet. "Gah! It got in my mouth!"

As she was hacking up the blood in her throat, something caught her eyes. Something that caused her to freeze in place, and stare in horror. From Mummy Scarf's corpse rose a single, glowing red fibre. It flew from the headless body and was absorbed by Ryūko's own. Ryūko stood in silence for minutes, trying to take in what she just saw.

The sound of a helicopter overhead finally registered to her ears. She was knocked out of her stupor, and slowly tilted her head upwards. To her annoyance, several news helicopters were in the sky, and had likely seen everything.

"Shit."

"What happened here?!"

"Eh?" Ryūko turned around to see a young man with wild black hair and a huge scar on his face. "Who the hell are you?"

The man glared and pointed his weapon at her, which Ryūko only just noticed was a fuck off big Gatling gun where his left arm should be. "That's should be my question! Who are you, and where is the Demon level threat that was reported?"

Ryūko frowned. "Oi, shitty-brat, don't you know it's rude to point your weapon at someone while demanding something?" She felt a little hypocritical, but she had been young back then, damn it!

"Just answer the question!" He yelled, spinning his gun barrel a few times to intimidate her. Before she could tell him to get bent, a voice came over the somehow still standing loudspeaker nearby.

" **Stand down, Death Gatling. That woman is the one who defeated the Demon level threat, Mummy Scarf.** "

"Shit. They did see that." Ryūko muttered, glaring at the overhead news-copters. "Also, what kind of shitty name is Mummy Scarf?"

"What?! This woman defeated a Demon level threat?!" Death Gatling cried. He looked back at a decidedly unamused Ryūko, then down the monster at her feet, then back to the blood on her rather damaged clothing. Despite the wear and tear of her outfit, she had no visible injuries. "No way."

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean, asshole?" Ryūko growled. "You want me to kick your ass too, Depth Gambling?"

"It's Death Gatling!" He snapped. "And I'm the 14th ranked A-class Hero! Show some respect!"

"You come up with that name by yourself, you freaking chuunibyou?"

"The Hero Association chose it! And I'm a real Hero, you moron!"

Ryūko went to reply, but paused. "Oh yeah, that's that group that came about a couple of years ago, calling themselves Heroes." She scratched the side of her head. "I don't really keep up with the news anymore, so I forgot you guys existed."

"You bitch." He growled, his brow twitching furiously.

Ryūko grinned. "So tell me, does that arm get in the way of your private ti-"

"GARGH!" The A-class Hero opened fire, yelling his fury. He stopped shooting when Ryūko vanished from his sight. "What?!"

"Don't just randomly start firing, you ass!" Ryūko snapped as she appeared behind him, punching him in the back of the head. Death Gatling's eyes went white as he was slammed face first into the ground, cracking it slightly. "My clothes are ruined enough as it is!" She picked at her shirt, which was half hanging from her torso revealing her stripped, blood-splattered bra. "Damn it, this was a nice top!"

" **Erm…miss**?"

"Huh?" Ryūko looked up to the loudspeaker, raising a brow. "What?"

" **Er, I've been told to invite you to the local Hero Association branch.** " Ryūko narrowed her eyes. **"T-Tomorrow, that is.** " Ryūko crossed her arms. " **At 10 o'clock!** " The voice squeaked.

Ryūko glared up at the helicopters, which still hadn't buggered off to mind their own business. 'So much for staying out of the public eye.' She looked back to the loud speaker. 'They probably want to ask me to be a Hero. I laid extra low ever since the Association started to avoid exactly this! Still…' She once again glared at the helicopters. 'Now that the freaking news has got me on live TV, laying low ain't exactly an option.'

" **Miss**?"

Ryūko released an aggravated sigh. "Alright fine, fine. I'll be there." Ignoring the response from the loud speaker, she looked up. "Hey! Don't you assholes have anything better to gawk at?!" As if they heard her—unlikely what with all the helicopter blades up there—they started to fly away.

She looked back down at her tattered clothes and sighed. "Urgh, better go home and change. My Nudist days are long behind me." She started her journey home, casually stepping on the unconscious Death Gatling on the way.

'It probably won't be a bad idea, actually, to become a Hero. It could give me some much-needed allies in the future, especially if what happened earlier means anything. They just better not give me a stupid name like the One Arm Bandit back there.'

A few days later, the S-class Hero known as Scarlet Bang joined the Hero Association.

* * *

 **I started reading the One Punch Man manga from where the anime left off, and I realised that I really wanted to see Ryūko—one of my favourite anime characters—in One Punch Man. She'd fit right in with those Heroes, or so I reckon. Even without Senketsu, I put her at S-class. If she had Senketsu then she'd be more than a match for almost anyone in One Punch Man. (Except Saitama, Lord Boros, and Monster Garou, of course.)**

 **Honestly I'm basing that off the Top Strongest wiki, but of course you're free to disagree. This is just for fun anyway, so I don't really see how it matters too much. I'm just writing this since it's something easy to write during my free time to keep my writing muscles flexed. I hope you guys have fun with this story, however far it goes. I know I will.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two- Catching up over Tea

* * *

"Hey, nee-san." Ryūko smiled, holding a cup of tea. "Sorry. It's been awhile, huh?" She took a sip and smirked. "Sorry about the crap tea; it's not quite Soroi's. Then again, nothing is." She took another sip.

"Quite a lot happened since last time. A Monster attacked H-City the other day. First time I've seen one that wasn't a walking tuxedo. H-City is usually pretty peaceful, so it was a bit of a shock when one turn up out of nowhere." Ryūko let out a solemn sigh, staring down into her barely steaming tea. "A lot of people died. Even kids. Damn monster…"

She shook her head. "Ehh, enough about that. I ain't here to talk about depressing shit. On a lighter note, they had me pop by the H-City branch of the Hero Association." Ryūko blinked. "Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know about that, would ya? Man, it really has been a while… Basically, some rich dude decided to make an association for people to play hero for money. Probably because of all the monsters that have been turning up for the last ten years or so." Ryūko paused. "Did…did I ever mention them? Hasn't been _that_ long since…has it?"

She frowned, not liking what that implied. Ryūko sighed. "Anyway, so they had me go in…"

* * *

"Thank you for coming, umm…" A man in a suit trailed off, not exactly sure about her name. His two companions either side of him glanced at each other, then back at Ryūko.

"Ryūko." Was all she offered them, not seeing a reason to give her surname. She was sat before three suits at a desk, almost like she was there for a job interview. Technically, it kind of was. The man opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "So, let me guess. You want me to join the Hero Association." The man in the middle fumbled with his documents.

"Ah, yes, well…Ah!" He dropped the papers, several of them falling to the floor.

The woman on his right sighed. "That is correct, Ryūko-san." She took over as he went under the desk to pick the documents up. "After your performance against Mummy Scarf, the Association believes that you would be a much welcome addition to its ranks. After all, we need as many Heroes as possible who can take care of Demon level threats." The man on the left nodded in agreement. The guy in the middle finally emerged, red in the face.

Ryūko smirked. "Trying to butter me up? It'll take more than a few compliments to sway me."

"Then it is a good thing we have more than compliments to offer." Mr Lefty said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "If you choose to accept, you will of course be offered pay; the amount will of course depend on your ranking. But, of course, you will be placed in a high ranking from the start. This is, of course, due to your considerable strength and skill. And if the pay is not enough to convince you, then there is the fact that you will, of course, become rather famous as a Hero."

"Of course." Ryūko drawled. She leant forward in her seat, crossing her legs in a masculine manner and resting an elbow on her ankle. "I'll take the job, but it's not because of the money or the fame. I'll do it because clearly my city ain't safe with those two jokers in charge. If another strong monster comes along in H-City, I'll take care of it." 'Not exactly the full truth, but close enough.'

Ms Right raised a brow. "Ah, so you want control over H-City? Very well, I'm sure that could be arr-"

"Pfft, like hell I want control over an entire city!" Ryūko rolled her eyes. She wasn't her sister, thank you very much. "If those two are good for anything, it's running the city." She let out a mighty sigh, looking up at the ceiling, then back down in the biggest eye roll she could manage. "Look, if you're gonna keep trying to butter me up when I've already accepted, I'd rather just talk to Mr Middle there." Ignoring the somewhat miffed side-suits, she turned to the literal middleman. "Hey, you were the guy on the loud speaker, right?"

He straightened up. "Er, y-yes, that was me."

Ryūko grinned. "So, now that I've accepted, what's next?"

Mr Middle coughed and looked through his papers for a minute. Once he found what he was looking for, he placed it atop the pile. "W-Well, there's an exam for you to take. It's in two parts; physical and written. It's just formality at this point, considering your performance yesterday. Just so we have your scores on file, y-you understand?"

Ryūko leaned back in her seat and shrugged. "I guess that's fair enough. So, when do I start?"

"Right now. If that is acceptable, of course."

"Sure, why not."

* * *

"The exam was a piece of cake." Ryūko said, taking another sip of her tea, only to grimace as it had gone cold. "All it was were side jumps, a 1500-metre run, weightlifting, shot put, vertical jumping, whack-a-mole for some reason, and a freaking punching machine." She smirked. "I broke the last one. Apparently, I set a new physical record for female Heroes. Guess that makes me the strongest gal around. Not that there's anything new there." She said with a slightly cheeky grin. "Heck, the written test wasn't even anything special. Even a lug head like me got high marks.

"After that, I got my results. They made me a S-class, which is apparently the highest rank. Not that I really care about that." Her expression turned serious. "After all, there's more to why I accepted than just protecting H-City. After I beat Mummy Scarf, a damn Life Fibre came out of her body." She clenched her fists. "Ragyō was right. She said that one day the Life Fibres would return, and damn it she was right. But that's why I joined the Hero Association. If there are other Heroes who are about as strong as me, then we should be able to take them on, right? Whatever form they take, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure our efforts from before weren't for nothing. Speaking of that, after I got my grade, they asked if there was anything I wanted them to make for me." Ryūko smirked and reached into her pocket.

"Turns out they've got some amazing weapon smiths or whatever working for them. But I had something better in mind. Asked them if they could retrieve a couple of somethings for me, instead." She pulled her closed fist out of her pocket. Before she could open it, a crashing noise a few blocks away caught her attention. The phone that was given to her by the Association then rang in her other pocket. She scowled and took it out.

"What?" She snapped into the phone, glaring. "I told you lot not to bother me today."

The voice of Mr Middle came through. " _S-Sorry, Scarlet Ba-"_

"Don't call me that!" Ryūko growled. "Whoever gave me that name is a fucking idiot! It sucks!"

" _Th-Then, Ryūko-san!_ " The man stammered, wilting since she didn't like the name he came up with. He knew better to tell her it was his idea, though. " _S-Sorry to bother you like this, but another hero needs some back up_!"

"That what that racket's all about?" Ryūko looked over at the direction the sounds were coming from. "Why do I need to help anyway? There's literally hundreds of other people you could ask."

" _Because the one in need of help is another S-class hero, Metal Bat. He's having some difficulty with a mysterious being. It's just now been upgraded from being a Demon level threat to a Dragon level threat!_ "

"…What's the big deal?" Ryūko started digging her pinkie into her other ear. "Demon threats aren't much of an issue, so Dragon can't be much worse."

" _C-Can't be much worse?!"_ He repeated, shocked. " _R-Ryūko-san, mysterious beings who are given the threat level of Dragon are those that are considered to be a threat to multiple cities!_ "

"Eh, seriously?" Ryūko pulled her finger out, staring at what it brought with it. "So, what are Demons a threat to? Just one city?"

" _Yes, and Tigers ar—w-wait this isn't important right now! Please, just go give Metal Bat some back up!"_

"And there's really nobody else who could help?" She asked, flicking the wax away.

" _U-Um…well…everyone else was busy…so they said to…leave it to…the…newbie…_ " The man's voice got quieter and quieter, as if he could sense Ryūko's growing anger.

The creaking sounds her phone was making probably gave it away. "Are you fucking kidding me?! What, are they fucking children?"

"… _I sincerely hope not…_ "

"…"

"…"

"I'm gonna ignore you said that." Ryūko gave an aggravated sigh. " _Fine_! I'll do it. But I better get some overtime some this!"

" _Than-_ "

Click.

"Assholes." Ryūko growled, glaring at the sky. "Some heroes they are." She sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry, nee-san, gotta go. Since I'm a 'Hero' now, I guess I've gotta live up to the part." She pushed herself to her feet. "Somebody around here has to."

Ryūko ran off in the direction of the ruckus, leaving behind two rapidly cooling cups of tea. Ryūko's cup was half empty, while the other sat untouched and cooling before a gravestone. Inscribed on the gravestone were these words;

 _ **Satsuki Kiryūin**_

 _ **The greatest leader in the world, and an even better sister**_

As she ran, Ryuko's expression fell into a dark scowl. 'Whoever this Metal Bat prick is, I'm gonna shove his namesake up his asshole! And my so-called colleagues are gonna taste the inside of his colon when I shove the thing down their throats!'

* * *

 **Been a while since my last update, huh. Well, I did say that this story was just for fun, so there's no real deadline. I had most of this done already, so I decided to finish it off and post a new chapter. This chapter was gonna be a bit longer, but screw it, this has taken long enough as it is. I'll get around to it at some point, likely as an exercise for the online writing course I'm taking. 2018 is gonna be my training arc on the road to being a better writer, so either my update rate increases as I apply my new teachings, or decrease even further as I go into hardcore training mode.**

 **If only Hyperbolic Time Chambers existed. Heck, I'd even take Evangeline's resort from Negima. Ah well, enough blabbering. Until next time, folks.**


	3. Serious News

**Hey guys, no chapter, but this is something much more important.**

 **Shirou Fujiumura's mom needs surgery to remove an ovarian cyst and he needs help raising money for it.**

 **You may or may not know him, but I'm sure you do. He's a great writer and he's helped me out a lot with one of my stories. I've been in his position before, my mum nearly died once because of a perforated bowel, so I know how scary it can be. He's asked me to put this author's note out, he needs help, so please go to his gofundme page! The link is on the most recent chapters of his stories Delinquency of the Red Dragon, Delinquency of the Re-duxed Dragon, and his Twitter account.**

 **I know I haven't updated this for a while, but I wanted to share this out as much as possible.**

 **Even if it's a small amount, please donate.**


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